Northern Virginia Listing Choices

Today I passed another real estate sign by the side of the road that proclaimed “we list your property for 4.5%.” WOW great you might think. Many sellers think a “standard commission” is 6% and therefore a 4.5% listing is a bargain price.

First and foremost understand that there is no such thing as a “standard” commission in real estate. So forget about 4.5% being a deal. In fact sellers have a wide range of options on how to list and sell their home. Many of those choices do not include a commission at all.

One of the reasons the commission structure has such a firm hold in the real estate market is because it is considered a risk/reward system. If the home doesn’t sell an agent doesn’t get paid. For the cost of the risk associated with marketing your property the agent asks for and receives a bigger reward.

In some ways it makes sense but in today’s real estate market it may not be the best option for a seller. Let’s be honest, your equity isn’t what it was a few years ago. Whether you’ve owned your home for 5 years or 25 years you feel the pain of declining market values.

The math is fairly simple:

$350,000 x 4.5% = $15,750 $350,000 x 6% = $21,000

Either number or one in between is a significant amount of money that won’t end up in your pocket.

At CJ Realty Group you have a choice of how you want to sell your home.

Over the last few years I’ve developed a hybrid model for real estate listings. You pay for ONLY the real estate services you need. That’s right. You may need 100% assistance in selling your home. There are plenty of folks who would rather “leave the driving to us” aka the Greyhound Bus model. Sign the listing agreement and let the agent handle the rest. We can do that.

Then there are those who would like the assistance of a professional agent but feel comfortable doing some of the tasks associated with selling a home on their own. For example holding open houses, printing fliers, posting on Craigslist and other non-MLS generated websites.

However when it comes to negotiations and troubleshooting a contract they would like the knowledge an expertise of an agent to protect their interest. We can do that. You pay a reasonable upfront fee and pay for the additional time required at an hourly fee.

Finally there are those who really can do it on their own. Perhaps you are an investor who is buying and selling multiple homes. All you want is the agent to put the listing in the MLS and make sure it is available through IDX (internet data exchange) to hundreds of other sites including Realtor.com. We can do that too.

So before you get excited about the "bargain" commission rates you see advertised give Cindy Jones and CJ Realty Group a call at 703-346-2213. As an Acredited Consulant in Real Estate, a designation less than 1% of Realtors® nationwide hold, we can offer you more choices on how to get your home sold. Let’s sit down and go through an analysis of what services you need and see if the services we offer might be a fit for you.